Hannes von Lahnstein

Character's background

In early 2006, Tanja returns with her son, Hannes, and wants to start a family together with Ansgar. But he has other plans. At first, he did not accept his son and wants have nothing to do with him or Tanja. But the interest that Hannes is the first child of a new Lahnstein generation makes Ansgar believe, that his son could be used to bring him and his father Johannes closer and that that would him bring back into the family business. After a while, Ansgar really loves Hannes as his son and fights with Tanja over custody. Tanja, as always, doesn't want it to be fate and as her sister Meike Breuer comes to town, she wants her as a nanny for Hannes. But Meike falls in love with Ansgar. He finds out, that Meike is Tanja's sister and uses her to get custody. Later, Ansgar marries Nathalie Käppler and she is the new mom for Hannes. But Tanja wouldn't let her and kidnaps her son and makes Nathalie and Ansgar believe, that Nathalie had caused Hannes' death. After Tanja fakes her own death too, she leaves Düsseldorf with the help of Adrian Degenhardt.

They return in December 2007, when Hannes was kidnapped to bring him back to his father Ansgar. Tanja soon discovers that Adrian was behind that, after Sebastian von Lahnstein, Ansgar's cousin, found out the child was still alive. Tanja only wants to come back to take Hannes again from his father, but her plan doesn't work and instead she soon has problems with the police responsible for kidnapping her own son and faking her death. But Tanja manages to blackmail Ansgar with one of his own intrigues and doesn't need go to prison after he predicates that Tanja had no other choice. Then Ansgar and Tanja fight for custody of Hannes again. But none of them wins, when Carla, Ansgar's sister, becomes the child's legal guardian thanks to Lydia Brandner, who's working for the Children's and Young People's Affairs. He grows up with his cousin Sophia now. Tanja tries to win her son back by trying to bring Ansgar to marry her, so they can win back custody of their son together and can enjoy the millions of the Lahnstein assets, because of a faked last will of Johannes, Hannes is the heir. There is only one problem left for Tanja: Ansgar's has fallen in love with his wife Nathalie. Tanja gets Nathalie behind bars with a scheme and she and Ansgar were married in August 2008. Shortly after, Tanja and Ansgar win the custody back as planned. But Ansgar opens up to Carla about the fake will to protect the family assets from Tanja. He also makes it clear that he still loves Nathalie and has an open affair with her.

Right before the wedding, a surprise guest arrives, when Annegret Wittkamp, Tanja's mother, shows up to make peace with her daughter and to learn more about her grandson. Tanja doesn't want to forgive her and tries to get rid of her several times. After she spoke out about the dark truth over Tanja's past, Annegret realizes that Tanja never can forgive her and wants to leave town. After a harsh conversation, Annegret decides to end her life and commits suicide by jumping into the Rhine. After that, Tanja is haunted by her and learns that she wants to give Hannes a real family. That's why she tries to be a good wife to Ansgar and wants to win him back onto her side. After three years, Hannes has his christening in November 2008. Nathalie is planned to be his godmother, but Tanja drugged her and makes it look like she is drinking again. In the end, Carla becomes his godmother. Tanja tries to convince Ansgar to extend their family and team up with her again, but their relationship is too unstable to make anything like that happen. Meanwhile Hannes forms a natural bound with Maria di Balbi, who turns out to be his grandmother after posing as the late Francesca von Lahnstein.

Ansgar and Tanya's marriage finally fails, when Ansgar starts up an affair with Lydia, who in the meantime has become the wife of Sebastian. When Lydia turns out to be pregnant, Ansgar makes plans for his newfound love and his two children, which include getting rid of Tanja's interference once and for all. Tanja plans on protecting her son's interest in the Lahnstein fortune and even makes an attempt on the life of Lydia's unborn child. She then discovers that the paternity is in question as Lydia's soon-to-be ex-husband Sebastian could also be the father. Tanja advices Lydia to take matters into her own hands and kill the child inside of her, before Ansgar is going to leave her for the lie she told. Lydia leaves town after the break up with Ansgar. Over 2011, Hannes had gained three and a half-siblings, with the birth of Ansgar and Lydia's son Nick Brandner, the birth of Tanja's daughter Emma von Lahnstein with Sebastian and the discovery that Ansgar fathered Kim Wolf.

Currently, Hannes is away at a boarding school in Switzerland and is only visiting from time to time. He returns with Tanja in December 2011, where Hannes is shown as a sassy young boy, who seems to be well aware of his family's power and wealth. While Hannes remains on good terms with Sebastian, who has become his step-father, however he seems to show a little resentment for his baby sister Emma when he looks at her for the first time. Hannes is also known as good poker player even though he's still young.